Conwy Lloyd Morgan was born in London, 9 February 1852, second son of James Arthur Morgan. He studied at the School of Mines in London with the intention of becoming a mining engineer, but became increasingly attracted to the study of pure science and continued to pursue his studies as a private tutor and at the Royal College of Science. After a period of work at the Diocesan College of Rondebosch, South Africa, he returned to England to succeed W.J. Sollas as Chair of Geology and Zoology - later renamed the Chair of Psychology and Ethics - at the University College, Bristol in 1884. He was elected Principal in 1887, and took the position of Vice-Chancellor when the College became the University of Bristol in 1909. In 1910 he resigned as Vice-Chancellor to concentrate on his work in his academic field. He retired in 1919, though he lived on in Clifton and occasionally returned to the University to aid his department, now called the Department of Philosophy He was considered one of the foremost scholars of animal and comparative psychology, and was among the chief founders of the scientific study of animal psychology. Among his published works were Animal Life and Intelligence (1890), Habit and Instinct (1896), Animal Behaviour (1900), and Instinct and Experience (1912). He was the first Fellow of the Royal Society to be elected for psychological work. He died at Hastings on 6 March 1936.

From the guide to the Conwy Lloyd Morgan Papers, 1875-1938, (University of Bristol Information Services - Special Collections)